Daily Recap — August 11

COLLINS OFFICIALLY DONE

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Things have been headed in this direction since the news broke, but Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) has finally exhausted hope and bowed to the greater good of the GOP, subjective as that notion may be.

Collins, who was charged this week as part of an insider trading scheme, is suspending his re-election campaign and will act to remove his name from the ballot. This was quite the reversal from just days ago, when he vowed to clear his name and remain on the ballot against all opposition.

He faces multiple counts of securities fraud, as well as charges of wire fraud and lying to investigators. His son and another associate were charged in the scheme as well.

The case that prosecutors are building against Collins involves Innate Immunotherapeutics, a small North Melbourne-based pharmaceutical company, where he served on the board for three years until 2017. Odd hobby for a U.S. Congressman, but it’s a free country…..errrr planet? He remains one of its biggest shareholders with a nearly 17% ownership stake.

A grand jury indictment states that Collins passed along non-public material to his son, Cameron Collins, regarding the results of a drug trial intended to treat an advanced form of multiple sclerosis in June 2017. He intended to “use that information to make timely trades in Innate stock and tip others,” according to the indictment

Cameron was allegedly able to sell off shares and avoid more than $760,000 in losses thanks to the inside info he received. I feel the need to italicize that word in this trial-by-media age.

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Under New York law, Collins’ name can be supplanted on the ballot at this stage of the cycle in one of three ways: he dies, moves out of state or is nominated for another office. I’m going to assume that the death and run for other office aren’t high on his list of options, so if he’s going to remove himself from the ballot as promised, he’s gonna emulate taxpayers and move the hell outta New York. But whaddayaknow……Collins owns houses in Florida and Washington, D.C.! I’m guessing they’ll come in handy soon as he follows the party’s orders in the hopes of maintaining some sort of status.

Ok, so they have a plan or how to get him off ballot. Now what?

Republican leaders from each of the eight counties in the 27th District — which covers rural areas as well as suburbs of Buffalo and Rochester — will meet to select a replacement candidate, that’s what. The good news is, there are more than 40,000 active Republicans than Democrats in the district, which went for PDT by a whopping 24% in 2016. So if these Republican tittybabies can manage not to screw this up by say, nominating some NeverTrump douchecanoe, they still have a great shot at retaining the seat.

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There are no clear replacements at this time, but said to be in the mix are: State Sen. Pat Gallivan, a former Erie County sheriff, Assemblyman David DiPietro and David Bellavia, a talk radio host and Iraq War veteran who has run for Congress before. I’m hoping Bellavia will get the nod but we’ll see how the local establishment treats an outsider. I know the Trump base certainly trusts outsiders more than insiders, for good reason.

Contrary to popular belief, not all of New York is Coochie Cap Mecca. It actually follows a similar pattern to the rest of American, meaning liberal urban areas and conservative rural areas doing demographic battle for control of the state’s politics. Unfortunately, the rural areas can’t overcome the monster that is NYC, so the state will be liberal for years to come. Just as rural California can give us Devin Nunes, so can rural New York give us a solid Trumper in the House.

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BIG PICTURE:

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Collins has pleaded not guilty to the charges, but frankly, it doesn’t look good for him. It could all be just a big coinky-dink that stock info directly related to the board on which he sat happened to make it into his son’s hands just before said stock collapsed and left investors holding the bag. But as a staunch believer in this abstract-yet-binding phenomenon known as logic, I don’t expect much exculpatory evidence to be presented.

But this America, and people still get their days in court even when they look guilty. And if he is indeed guilty, I hope he’s prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The crime of which he’s accused affects more than rich yuppies hoping to get on the ground floor of a new drug. Those rich yuppies serve a critical purpose. Scientists are looking for miracle drugs for horrible diseases like MS. Investment into research and development is (obviously) critical to that mission. If investors are wary that board-sitters will screw them over if drugs don’t pan out, it will discourage them from getting in the game in the first place. Crimes like these ultimately hurt people all over America and the world who pray to God every day to alleviate their suffering. I don’t have a damn bit of sympathy for this type of “white collar” criminals. They’re sociopathic in the final analysis.

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BIG(GER) PICTURE:

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While Collins’ alleged actions are abhorrent, let’s not kid ourselves — he’s not the first and definitely won’t be the last in Congress to do it. At one point, the Swamp had even insulated themselves from insider trading prosecution.

What Collins is accused of is fairly standard swamp behavior, sad as that may be. So how may other Congressman are being looked at for similar crimes? Why did I have to go out of my way for my readers to dig information on Bob Menendez, whose overt corruption was every bit as bad as Collins (getting lavish vacations in exchange for ripping off Medicare isn’t a great look), yet Collins is on the front page of every paper and already being forced off the ballot?

These aren’t new questions, and of course are rhetorical in nature. We all know good and well that anyone supporting the Trump agenda, be they a slimy faker or the genuine article, better have a squeaky clean record because they’ll be pursued aggressively by a government which seeks to destroy outside influence (formerly known as The People) in order to save itself.

I absolutely want every Swamp monster exposed and prosecuted. But let’s not for a second kid ourselves about the larger picture here — the DOJ and media are working hand in hand as always to achieve political ends. That’s not an excuse for Collins, it’s a sober view of the underlying truth behind everything we see.

Mr. Sessions, there is a lot of corruption on the Democrat side but only the dirty laundry of the Trump orbit seems to meet justice. I hope I’m correct that a lot of stuff will happen to even things out before your term is over.

I can tell you; it’s not an easy faith to hold.

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HOLY CRAP SOME GUY STOLE A PLANE

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A 29-year old airline employee stole a friggin 76-seat passenger plane yesterday from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, flew it for an hour with military jets chasing him, pulled off “aerobatic stunts” and ultimately crashed in a wooded island 25 miles away. He was the only one on board and managed to crash in a non-populated area, thank God. Obviously, he’s passed on.

Try to one-up his day, though. I dare you.

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After “doing stunts in (the) air” — media speak for not knowing how to fly — for about an hour, the plane crashed at Ketron Island, according to the sheriff’s department. The man responsible, who hasn’t been identified as of the time of this writing, was a ground service agent, a job that includes directing aircraft for takeoff and gate approach, handling baggage and de-icing planes. The otherwise menial job gave him credentials to board planes on the runway. Hey man, people gotta work.

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To be completely fair, he did possess some flying skills, more than myself anyway. He certainly knew how to retract the landing gear. He coordinated both engines and powered them up to get a coordinated takeoff. But then the air traffic controller had to tell him how to set what they call the ‘bugs’ — which are essentially a few little levers that get the plane headed in a certain direction and acting properly. According to pilots, it’s very basic stuff.

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Essentially, he knew how to get it off the ground, but not much about what to do afterward.

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There is video of the incident but I’m not posting it here because I don’t believe in posting the last moments of a troubled person’s life. He has a family somewhere and I find it disrespectful. Suffice it to say, it shows the plane doing all sorts of loops and narrowly crashing before ultimately running out of luck.

The incident isn’t being considered terrorism, which makes sense, but it will definitely start conversations about airport security protocol and how to guard against this sort of thing in the future. The ability of the man to board the plane and man the cockpit by himself, for instance, will likely be something that will be changed.

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He spoke to ground control.

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In audio recordings of the incident posted on Broadcastify, the man can be heard talking to air traffic controllers as they try to guide him to land the plane.

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At one point, he apologizes and says he is a “broken guy” with “a few screws loose.”

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“I’ve got a lot of people that care about me, and it’s going to disappoint them to hear that I did this,” the man says. “I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. Just a broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess. Never really knew it until now.”

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The sheriff’s department described the man as suicidal. It did not elaborate.

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Earlier in the flight, the man says: “This is probably, like, jail time for life, huh? I mean, I would hope it is, for a guy like me.”

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“Well,” a controller responds, “we’re not going to worry or think about that. But could you start a left-hand turn, please?”

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Later, a controller discusses getting a pilot on the radio to help the man control the aircraft.

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“Nah, I mean, I don’t need that much help. I’ve played some video games before,” the man responds.

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Also, there was this exchange:

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“Congratulations,” an air traffic controller says, “you did that, now let’s try to land that airplane safely and not hurt anybody on the ground.”

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The man responds: “Awwww-right … dammit.. I don’t know man! I don’t know! I don’t want to. I was kinda hoping that was gonna be it. Ya know?”

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He was obviously a disturbed man. Very sad case. May God have mercy on his soul.

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F-15 Jets were scrambled

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Within minutes of the plane’s takeoff, the military scrambled two armed F-15 jets from Oregon to follow it. They pursued the aircraft before it went down on Ketron Island, between Tacoma and Olympia.

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“NORAD fighters did not fire upon the aircraft,” North American Aerospace Defense Command said this morning in a news release.

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The jets’ capability was appropriate to the potential task, they added, without offering details. That, of course, being code for “we were prepared to shoot it down if it got close to a populated area.”

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F-15 “pilots kept plane out of harms way and people on ground safe,” the sheriff’s office tweeted. The jets were not involved in the crash, it said.

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Those of you who actually read the entirety of these recaps are about to be treated to a hidden gem.

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I’ve no reason to believe that this plane was shot down by fighter jets, at least insofar as I haven’t seen evidence. In the absence of opposing evidence, I’ll take NORAD at its word. But I will say this:

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The government has shot down a plane before and knowingly allowed a different narrative to take hold. I’m not saying anymore than that. I just want to make clear that it is a possibility, regardless of what media says.

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BIG PICTURE:

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All the evidence here points in the direction of a disturbed man finally reaching his wit’s end and deciding to go out with a bang. The investigation is ongoing, of course, so nothing can be said definitively, but between the video and audio evidence, the case seems pretty clear-cut.

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One question I do have is one statement he made to the air traffic controller than he didn’t know he had “screws loose until now.” Was this a sudden psychosis? Had he displayed any signs beforehand? Is he on any sort of psychotropic medication? If so, are there any other documented cases of people on that medication committing seemingly random, drastic acts? These are all questions I hope are answered in the ensuing investigation.

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You never know what sort of heartache looms inside a person. Even those in your life who seem happy, jovial or generally unaffected by anything can be anything but. Please reach out to those in your life even if you don’t think they need it. If there is just .0001% chance you’ll save their life, isn’t worth it?

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SAME OLD CORRUPT DIMS

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You ever notice how a cashier never makes an error in your favor? I notice a similar pattern with “found” votes during elections. They never seem to help our side. Isn’t that odd?

And now, thanks to this ever-convenient electoral rule of thumb, the tight Ohio race between Dim Danny O’Connor and Republican Troy Balderson just got tighter.

Election officials in Franklin County miraculously found 588 previously uncounted votes in a Columbus suburb., a place where Trump-friendly Republicans tend to underperform. The result: O’Connor had a net gain of 190 votes, bringing the race’s margin down to 1,564.

“The votes from a portion of one voting location had not been processed into the tabulation system,” according to a Franklin County Board of Elections news release.

Balderson declared victory Tuesday night, as he should have, since his margin of victory rested outside the .5% difference required to trigger an automatic recount. But O’Connor says he’s waiting for all votes to be counted, and who can blame him — we all know they’ll favor him.

That includes 3,435 provisional ballots and 5,048 absentee ballots, which will be tabulated by Aug. 24.

Just as a matter of math, I don’t expect the final tally to help O’Conner overtake Balderson. His main hope is to get the margin down enough to trigger the aforementioned recount, then God knows what shenanigans they’ll have time for by then.

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Who remembers when they “found” more votes for Gropin’ Al Franken in the trunk of some random car? Yes, that happened. They have no shame.

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KOBACH UPDATE:

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An even bigger story in my estimation is that regarding Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. It’s no secret that I greatly admire Secretary Kobach. If you’re an immigration hawk, he’s your man. He’s had the courage to call out Dims and Republicans alike for their real agendas concerning immigration and fought to stop them at every turn. He’s a rare sort of Republican, and one I would work 20-hours days for should he ever decide to run for POTUS.

Unfortunately, that courage comes at a price, and it usually involves corrupt pushback from the Establishment. His opponent in the Kansas gubernatorial race, Governor Jeff Colyer (R), accused Kobach yesterday of intentionally pushing a miscount of the number of ballots cast in the gubernatorial primary race.

“Secretary Kobach’s office was instructing counties not to count ballots that are in the mail, and those clearly have to be counted under Kansas law,” Colyer said in a Fox News interview.

There is one teensy problem with that accusation, which is that he presented no evidence to support it. There’s also the logical problem, which is that there’s no reason to believe that mail-in ballots would inherently favor Colyer, which raises questions as to what Kobach’s motive could have been. A lifelong stamp phobia, maybe?

Colyer also expressed concern over the counting of provisional ballots for voters who are registered independents but are allowed to vote in the primary. That’s called Kansan law, Governor. You may recall putting your hand on a Bible and swearing to uphold it.

Kobach responded to the allegations immediately yesterday, saying in a press release “allegations that my office has given inaccurate advice to local election officials regarding the handling and counting of mail-in and provision ballots” are “incorrect.”

Furthermore, Kobach has recused himself from overseeing the vote-counting process, which is technically his job as Secretary of State. His ethical behavior has been up to the highest standards up to this point. Until seeing evidence to prove otherwise, I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt to the man who’s devoted most of his adult life to protecting our electoral process from fraud.

As of now, the Tuesday primary is still too close to call, with Kobach’s lead at under 100 votes in a race where over 300,000 ballots were cast. It doesn’t get much closer than that, and will hopefully serve as a reminder to GET OUT AND VOTE, DAMNIT. If it ain’t close, they can’t cheat.

The Establishment absolutely hate people like Kris Kobach. He’s the real deal and they know it. I put absolutely nothing past them to try and keep someone like him out of the governor’s mansion, and I’m not even a conspiracy-minded person.

I just know what happens when someone poses a serious threat to the immigration status quo. They’re destroyed at all costs.

Keep fighting, Mr. Kobach. We need people like you to hang in there.

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TRUMP VS. TURKEY

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Man, I’ve been waiting to see that Islamist thug Erdogan get his comeuppance ever since his security detail stomped out protesters on American soil. I was profoundly disappointed by PDT’s inaction following that incident. But the Donald is more than making up for it now, as he once again fights for Christians being persecuted around the world.

PDT moved yesterday to double metals tariffs on Turkey im just the latest jab against our…wait for it, because I can’t make this up……*NATO ally.* It stems from disagreements over defense policy and, more pointedly, the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson.

Just as he did with everyone else, PDT came into office seeking better relations with Turkey. They do loan us air fields and air space from which to bomb ISIS, after all (when they’re not buying oil from them on the black market). But as he announced his plans to hike tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum to 50% and 20%, respectively, he gave a frank, Trumpian update on the status of our relations with the new Islamist regime: “Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!”

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The Donald went on to say he would levy tariffs as “their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar!”

And also in true Trumpian fashion, he wasn’t kidding. The already-reeling Lira plunged even more after that tweet, dropping an 20%. Can you imagine being powerful enough to devalue a currency by 1/5 with a quick tweet?

Just saying…wow.

The White House later tried to clarify PDT’s tweet, saying in a statement that he “authorized the preparation of documents to raise tariffs” on metals imports from Turkey. Um yeah, that’s the same thing, fellas. But thanks for all your hard work.

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WHO IS ANDREW BRUNSON?

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Mr. Brunson is a 50-year old Christian pastor from North Carolina. He was detained by President Erdogan’s thugs in October 2016 as part of a sweeping crackdown following a failed military coup that July. Brunson was charged with supporting two terrorist groups in Turkey, one accused of orchestrating the coup and another led by Kurdish separatists battling the Turkish military.

U.S. officials denounced the charges as a sham, and are likely correct given the treatment of Christians by the Erdogan’s Islamist regime and the zero evidence to back up their charges..

Pastor Brunson’s freedom became a top priority for many Christian evangelicals in the U.S and especially VP Pence. His cause also has attracted attention in Congress. PDT’s most competent attorney, Jay Sekulow, represents Pastor Brunson. Yesterday, he expressed hope while serving as guest host of the Hannity radio show that the U.S. and Turkey were “getting close to a resolution.”

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THE BIG PICTURE OF THE COUP

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To understand the larger picture behind Brunson’s detention, it’s important to understand Turkish politics. See, TurKey actually had a very wise founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. While he understood the prominence of Islam in the region, he also understood its absolute toxic nature, especially as it relates to governance.

Therefore, he explicitly wrote into the Turkish Consitution that any leader who attempted to supplant the secular rule of law of Turkey with Islamic law was to be immediately toppled by the military. The failed coup of which Brunson is being charged as a conspirator was actually mandated by the Constitution. Those participating in it weren’t breaking the law, but bravely trying to uphold it.

Erdogan, however, has used Islam to transform Turkey into just another Middle Eastern Islamic theocracy, and adjusted his tactics accordingly to correspond with that of a two-bit Islamic dictator. Unfortunately, there are lot of fundamentalists Muslims in Turkey now who have wielded great force against traditional Turkish moderates, thereby giving Erdogan a power base that has insualated himself from actions such as the failed coup in 2016.

This is also important to understand because the shift toward Islamic theocracy has made Turkey a country hostile to US interests, even as they rent out their air fields for our anti-ISIS air campaign. Erdogan supports anti-Israel militias, does black market business with jihadist networks.

That’s had a predictable effect on what was once a very effective military partnership, as we’ve had to cancel plans to sell scores of very expensive F-35’s, for what should be very obvious reasons. F-35’s are the most advanced fighter jet we have and the engineering information behind them is extremely valuable. Erdogan can’t be trusted not to give sensitive information regarding the plane’s strengths and, more importantly, vulnerabilities to our enemies.

So while PDT gave Erdogan an honest chance in the beginning, he quickly demonstrated that it would not be a relationship of mutual respect. And things have been downhill ever since.

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PLAY-BY-PLAY OF THE TRUMP/ERDOGAN BATTLE:

Initially, the Trump administration offered Turkey incentives. The White House convinced Congress to hold off on a plan earlier this year that would have imposed sanctions on Turkey for holding Pastor Brunson as a good faith attempt to allow them to do the right thing voluntarily.

The administration also let Turkey know that prosecutors had dropped charges filed against 11 of 15 bodyguards working for Erdogan who stomped protesters in broad daylight when Erdogan came to D.C. last year. That was an extraordinary step by the Trump administration and one with which I strongly disagreed. Dictators never respect leaders who allow them to get away with that type of thing. Erdogan perceived it as weakness and proceeded accordingly.

Thus, the Trump administration’s efforts to make nice with Erdogan produced no breakthroughs. Turkey held Pastor Brunson without charges until March, when prosecutors filed a 62-page indictment that accused the him of espionage, aiding terrorist groups and trying to convert Muslims, despite having evidence of nothing other than preaching Christianity in an Islamic country.

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After months of talks, U.S. officials thought they had reached an understanding with Turkey to free the pastor last month when he appeared in a Turkish court. As Brunson’s hearing approached last month, PDT even met Erdogan in Brussels at the NATO summit regarding the issue.

In private talks, Erdogan asked for PDT’s help in securing the release of a Turkish citizen who had been held by Israel for a month after being accused of trying to funnel money to Hamas, according to several reports citing information from people intimately involved with the matter.

On July 14, PDT called Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu to ask him to free the Turkish citizen, Ebru Ozkan. And whaddayaknow. Ms. Ozkan was deported to Turkey the very next day.

Turkish officials, however, deny that Erdogan had asked PDT for help with Israel. Call me crazy, but I don’t think PDT randomly went to Netanyahu asking for the release of a Hamas-funder unless it was part of a larger negotiation/relationship-building exercise. So yeah, I’m gonna believe PDT on this one.

Turkish officials also expected the Trump administration to send Mehmet Atilla, a Turkish banker serving a 32-month prison term for evading U.S. sanctions against Iran, back to Turkey to complete his sentence. In addition, they expected the U.S. State Department to request leniency from the Treasury Department in imposing a potentially crippling fine on the Turkish bank ensnared in the sanctions evasion case.

They expected a lot with nothing in return. Sounds like they’d gotten accustomed to dealing with the Obama administration.

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Chances of a U.S.-Turkey agreement fell apart again when Turkey sought broader assurances that the U.S. would halt any further investigation of Halkbank , the Turkish bank where Atilla worked. However, unlike the Obama administration, the Trump administration refused to turn a blind eye to those working behind the scenes with Iran.

Later in July, when Pastor Brunson was sent back to prison after his court hearing, PDT blasted the decision on Twitter as a “total disgrace.”

On July 25, Turkey freed Brunson from prison and placed him under house arrest at his home in the port city of Izmir. That move only made things worse, as U.S. officials were reportedly told that he would be set free completely.

And thaaaaaat’s when PDT put Erdogan on the offical Poop List, as he warned Turkey that very day that he would respond.

“The United States will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their long time detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson, a great Christian, family man and wonderful human being,” PDT said in a tweet that day. “This innocent man of faith should be released immediately!”

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The administration has also stopped blocking Congress from doing its thing, as they offered no objections last month when Congress moved to block plans to sell Turkey up to 100 of the F-35.

And whaddayaknow….the next day, Turkish officials said they had a preliminary deal with the U.S. on Pastor Brunson and sent a delegation to Washington to try and end the impasse. PDT wasn’t impressed and the efforts failed, although I’m inclined to believe that he will eventually cut a deal but wants them to suffer longer for their shenanigans.

And so that bring us to now.

Yesterday, PDT announced plans to heighten tariffs on Turkey while Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayark, Erdogan’s son-in-law, was on stage at the presidential palace in Istanbul unveiling a new economic plan to try to reassure global markets.

But those markets aren’t feeling reassured and their currency continues its downward spiral. It seems Erdogan has flipped off the wrong Westerner.

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BIG PICTURE:

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I know it’s been a long piece so I’ll try to make this as short and sweet as possible:

Until Pastor Brunson is released, PDT will continue taking tougher and tougher steps against Erdogan, mostly in the form of further sanctions. They were given a chance to be rational partners with mutual interests but their new Islamo-dictator had to flex his muscle.

Now he gets to learn what real flexing looks like. And what a shame.

My prayers are not only with Pastor Brunson and his family, but the Turkish people who still believe in their Constitution and don’t want to live under Islamic tyranny.

Amen.

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